harvester ants

• :Snakes On the Plains

So someone picked up the hotline to [Dave] and [Candi Shelvey]. Dave arrived with non-biting black harvester ants -- they have tongues so the only risk is being ant-licked -- from south-central United States. Dave dumped the ants onto a sheet of cardboard. Vaseline was rubbed onto [Christine Horne]'s leg. Dave pinged the back of the cardboard, the ants sailed through the air, stuck to Horne's leg, "and they got the shot," he said. If you haven't heard of the Westman Reptile Gardens, it's time you did. It's a revelation. No one expects to find a first-class display of the largest collection of reptiles and creepy bugs in Canada in the middle of a mostly empty prairie. The collection is larger than those at either the San Diego or Australian zoos, "and we're not far from taking the North ...

• Winnipeg Free Press
• August 27, 2009

• Manitoba Savours Butterfly Effect

This year it's been phenomenal here in Manitoba... one of the best that I've ever seen," said Chris Pedersen, a butterfly expert and breeder. Environment Canada meteorologist Suzanne D'Amours said there were pockets throughout the spring with three or four days of south winds averaging about 20 kilometers an hour. The Red River Valley creates a "tunneling effect. Milkweed is subject to the province's noxious weed act, which says all such weeds must be destroyed by property owners. Manitoba Conservation said they have not changed their stance or defence tactics against the plant but noted the warm, moist spring benefited milkweed and numbers are higher than usual, which is tasty news for monarchs.

...* Manitoba is home to the rare harvester butterfly. Its carnivorous caterpillars eat aphids... are reared and protected by certain ants. * There are over 200,000 known species of butterf...

• Winnipeg Free Press
• August 10, 2009